Minister Ernest T. Campbell once said, “the two most important days of a man’s life are the day on which he was born and the day on which he discovers why he was born.” The quote has been paraphrased years before Campbell’s time. The great Mark Twain may even have uttered a version of it. But more important than who said it, these words speak to our life purpose and the immense weight it holds.
Your purpose matters, and it’s the driving factor behind everything you do. It sets your soul on fire and gives your life meaning. One person’s purpose may be to share their art and creativity with the world. Another person’s may be to fight for a social issue or to build a family full of love and support.
Finding your “why” is a major part of your life’s journey. You can start by reflecting on what matters most to you. Then, work on determining the impact you want to have on the world. Once you’ve cracked the code and found your purpose, it can feel like winning the lottery. Yet we also have to keep working at it every day. Life also changes, and we may find our life purpose shifting. We may also need to refine it over time or get new inspiration.
You might be in the beginning stages of defining your life’s meaning or you might be trying to reignite that flame. Either way, a little inspiration can help. Browse the following cluster of purpose quotes for inspiration. These “find your why” quotes are here to guide, encourage and remind you of the power of sticking to your purpose.
Finding Purpose: Quotes to Help You Find What Matters Most in Life
Finding your purpose is not always an easy task. It’s a journey of self-reflection and discovery.
It often begins with taking time to identify your passions, values and unique skills. Then, it’s a matter of setting goals and building a life that harmonizes with these findings. This can involve trying new things, grasping different opportunities or even completely starting over at times.
“Purpose of life” quotes can also help to steer you in the right direction if you’re feeling lost. John Maxwell quotes on purpose and sayings from other personal growth and leadership experts teach us how to find our life’s intention. Plus, they help us see why it’s so important to do so.
- “The two greatest days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out what your purpose is, but if you don’t know what your purpose is than you don’t know why you are here, and it can be hard to keep going.” —Shannon Kaiser
- “I believe that each of us is born with a life purpose. Identifying, acknowledging and honoring this purpose is perhaps the most important action successful people take.” —Jack Canfield
- “Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” —Rumi
- “If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.” —T.D. Jakes
- “Everyone has a purpose in life … a unique gift or special talent to give to others.” —Deepak Chopra, “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”
- “First, you find your dream, your purpose, your goal, and then you grow into that dream and realize your maximum potential.” —John C. Maxwell, “Your Road Map for Success”
- “Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” —Mitch Albom
- “Find purpose in your life. Choose the things you would like to do, and educate yourselves to be effective in their pursuit.” —Gordon Hinckley
- “It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures.” —Robert Greene, Mastery
- “There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive.” —Oprah Winfrey
Related: 36 ‘Know Your Worth’ Quotes
Inspirational Quotes About Purpose and Its Power
Knowing your purpose can change your entire life. It can provide a clear sense of direction and be a powerful motivator. Once you’ve discovered it, you may experience a renewed sense of energy and excitement. You’ll be contributing to something larger than yourself, and in turn, may feel a greater sense of fulfillment and resilience.
Research even shows a strong connection between pursuing your purpose and improved wellbeing. The American Psychiatric Association shares that finding your purpose boosts your mental wellbeing and lowers levels of anxiety and depression. In terms of physical health, it’s also linked to better sleep, lower inflammation and even increased longevity.
The following sayings about usefulness dive even deeper into the power of purpose.
- “To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment.” —James Allen, As A Man Thinketh
- “The soul that has no established aim loses itself.” —Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- “Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” —John F. Kennedy
- “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” —Helen Keller, Helen Keller’s Journal
- “Strong lives are those that are marked by a sense of purpose, connectedness, resilience, and fulfillment.” —Jenifer Fox, Your Child’s Strengths
- “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.” —Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman
- “You are not here merely to prepare to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” —Woodrow Wilson
- “Direction, not intention, determines your destination. Where are you headed?” —Andy Stanley
- “The key to a happy life is to have accomplishments to be proud of and purpose to look forward to, and at the moment I had both. How wonderful it was to be me.” —Jeffry Lindsay, Dearly Devoted Dexter
- “My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.” —Bette Davis, The Lonely Life: An Autobiography
Related: 60 Resilience Quotes That Will Give You Strength
Motivational Quotes to Help You Live With Purpose
Living with purpose involves having an overarching mission that guides everything you do. Finding that initial drive and passion is step one, but it’s also a continual process. Whether it’s in your career, at home, in your community or elsewhere, you can continue to learn and grow into your intentions. Staying focused can sometimes be a challenge. Yet maintaining an open and grateful attitude is key. Connecting with like-minded people and leaning on the wisdom of a few “live with purpose” quotes can help.
- “Consider that the real purpose of anyone’s life is to be fully involved in living. Try to be present for the journey and fully embrace it.” —Shannon Kaiser
- “Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” —Napoleon Hill, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
- “Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim.” —John D. Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller on Making Money
- “All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” —Brian Tracy
- “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” —Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn By Living
- “Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose and design; that is, when you make your figure you should consider carefully who it is and what you wish it to be doing.” —Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo de Vinci
- “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked.” —Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
- “By thinking about your goals every morning, many times during the day, and every night, you begin moving toward it, and bringing it toward you.” —Bob Proctor
- “The most successful people are those who began with a dream. A dream is a powerful desire for you to hold on to and one day make a reality. Dreams give our lives purpose, a reason for existing.” —Denis Waitley, Psychology of Success
- “The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.” —Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person
- “If you learn to set a good sail, the wind that blows will always take you to the dreams you want, the income you want, and the treasures of mind, purse, and soul you want.” —Jim Rohn
Quotes About Walking In Your Purpose During Tough Times
During times of hardship, people may be inclined to abandon their purpose. After setbacks like losing a job or navigating a loss, it can feel easier to resort to old ways and a less impactful routine. Yet it’s in these moments that holding to your purpose can be powerful. Despite the self-doubt, societal pressures or even lack of support, staying connected to what matters to you can help you move forward.
Viktor Frankl’s quotes on purpose from his book “Man’s Search for Meaning” are especially poignant during tough times. Alongside Frankl’s reflections, other well-said quotes offer encouragement. They remind us that finding meaning in the challenges is not just possible, but essential.
- “I believe that nothing that happens to me is meaningless, and that it is good for us all that it should be so, even if it runs counter to our own wishes. As I see it, I’m here for some purpose, and I only hope I may fulfil it. “ —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
- “I am not on this earth by chance. I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand.” —Og Mandino, The Greatest Secret in the World
- “Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.” —Wayne Dyer, Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life
- “Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities.” —Gordon Hinckley
- “Nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose, — a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.” —Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein
- “Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.” —Abraham Lincoln
- “If there is a purpose in life at all, there must be a purpose in suffering.” —Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
- “As you open yourself to living at your edge, your deepest purpose will slowly begin to make itself known. In the meantime, you will experience layer after layer of purposes, each one getting closer and closer to the fullness of your deepest purpose.” —David Deida, The Way of the Superior Man
- “Inner peace wasn’t about comfort, but choosing purpose over despair.” —Maxime Lagacé, Inner Peace
Short Sayings to Remind You to Live a Significant Life
Everyone has a purpose. We all deserve to fill our lives with the things that matter most to us. These original, purpose-driven quotes from SUCCESS® give us the inspiration we need to live meaningfully and to chase what sets our souls on fire. Be relentless in your pursuit and never settle for less.
- “At the end of the day, it’s your purpose that defines your life. Leave behind a legacy and no regrets.”
- “Don’t let life simply happen to you. Set out to do everything with intention.”
- “We’re all put here for a reason and have something unique to offer the world that no one else can.”
- “Once you discover your purpose, pursue it ferociously and wholeheartedly.”
- “Living with purpose often requires much thought and effort. But would you rather support someone else’s dreams or chase after your own?”
- “Find your purpose and don’t stop there.”
- “Without purpose, we are but specks caught in the breeze, lost with no control.”
- “The greatest amount of meaning will be found in the things that make you feel alive.”
- “Your purpose isn’t handed to you, but discovered deep inside. You just have to be brave enough to dig it out.”
- “Life’s meaning isn’t always measured in awards or applause, but in the number of hearts you quietly touched.”
Final Thoughts on Pursuing Your Purpose
Perhaps these quotes about passion and purpose will shake something loose inside of you. Maybe the advice on “finding your why” will inspire you to give that business idea another go. Or, these motivational sayings could bring back the excitement and fulfillment you felt when you first started volunteering your time to help others. You might use these purpose quotes to pull you out of running life on autopilot.
Whatever the case may be, these words can guide you back to who you want to be and give you the courage to purposefully show up as him or her every single day.
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